He Drew a Beginning
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: There were a lot of firsts in Drew's journey.
1. The First Step

**A/N:** Written for repad for her birthday…and somehow a straight-forward Drew&Solidad friendship mutated into this. So it's also for the Indigo League Challenge, Viridian Forest's drabble collection.

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**He Drew a Beginning  
1. The First Step**

He turned ten in the winter, and the Roselia he received was a small and scrunched up thing from the cold.

Perhaps that was what brought them together. Leaving the grey city behind them they entered the green fields dusted white, wrapping themselves warmly by small fires in the night and constantly moving about by day. Together, always together, they'd managed to grow a bit before the wilderness and the worst of the chill passed by, and by that point they were firm friends, ready to face the journey stretching further ahead.

His initial dream, so detailed and impossible, had lost itself in the snow, but that was all the better for them. Roselia wasn't the perfect Pokemon, but he was not either, and it was only when they understood each other and knew each other inside out could they hope to grow to infinity. To that far-up sun mirrored in the fluffy snow.

And Roselia was brighter, livelier, when they finally stepped into Lilycove City with worst of winter and their beginning behind them.


	2. The First Contest

**He Drew a Beginning  
2. The First Contest**

It was in Lilycove that he learnt of Pokemon Contests, and both he and Roselia were immediately endowed by the appeal and the hidden strength it contained. All the way to the next town they practised at their pace, as Winter turned into Spring and the white snow gave way to yellow flowers and green grass.

They spent the time refining themselves, as they had from the beginning of their journey. Knowing their strengths and weaknesses, what worked best for them and what holes needed to be filled. It was better, they felt, than pushing ahead – trudging blindly through deep snow for only frostbite proved that point.

They passed many Pokemon along the way, but turned their heads. There was no time for that. Roselia came first after all.

And so it was only Drew and Roselia who pressed on.


	3. The First Defeat

**He Drew a Beginning  
3. The First Defeat**

It was in Fortree City where Drew entered his first Pokemon Contest.

They were both confident, though they practised thoroughly until the day before. But when the peaks of orange and blue shone through his window, he lay still and imagined the weight of his first ribbon in his hand.

The appeals round passed by smoothly and he slipped into the second with passing colours. Those next matches shook him up a little, but Roselia, like the bud she was, managed to bloom.

He arrived at the finals, and there his caution failed him utterly. His opponent was a girl named Solidad, with years more experience and finesse under her belt, shining so brightly Roselia shrivelled in the wake of her Butterfree's Sunny Day, bringing Summer's harsh glare with it far too early.

Roselia failed to make it past the first minute, and Drew's first Contest ended in defeat.


	4. The First Rival

**He Drew a Beginning  
4. The First Rival**

Solidad followed him, and he had almost hit the road again when he caught up. But she smiled in the face of his bitterness and was calm in wake of his red face – of embarrassment and anger.

She suggested a rematch and the battled again, and this time Roselia lasted a little longer against Butterfree. And then she showed him some things: how they could only grow so much without pushing themselves. How the path to growth was not just limited to the silent outdoors and the bonded pair, but stretched to other places – even Gyms – other people and other things.

But she admitted she had been impressed. Admitted that, if he had more experience under his belt, she may have lost that day. Admitted that she was looking forward to seeing his growth, and another, more filling, battle from him. A battle when the difference in their experience and skill was not so marked, when she was not the mentor and he the student.

He accepted that, and accepted her help as well, and put it to good use. And he walked away from his second contest with a Ribbon: the first of many.


	5. The First Capture

**He Drew a Beginning  
5. The First Capture**

Solidad's Butterfree had burnt herself into his mind and Roselia's as well. And as the brown Autumn fell upon them they stumbled upon one in the forest trees.

Roselia was quick to engage, and the Butterfree, lacking the experience of a trained Pokemon, put up a poor fight. And so Drew captured it, vowing to nurture it into a Butterfree as strong as Solidad's, a friend and rival worthy of Roselia.

But Butterfree was weak, and Roselia's pride still held some wounds, so it was a battle in itself to build up bonds between them. But the time they spent together – occasionally seeing others, people and Pokemon, but otherwise growing alone – drew them ever closer, and while it still took time for Butterfree to attain the level of Roselia and still not quite the level of Solidad's Butterfree, Drew was still proud of how he'd grown.


	6. The First Love

**He Drew a Beginning  
6. The First Love**

He met May some time after, when she was a beginner and he had come far in his journey. It was his meeting with Solidad all over again, except he had become the mentor and she the mentee.

He didn't know why he bothered, but there was something attractive about her style, something that caught him and drew him in, refusing to let go. She was careless, yes, and a wild thing on the stage, and yet she had elegance about her. Like a raw jewel which needed to be refined. And she had passion – he would have had to be blind to not see the fires that burnt about her, and her eagerness on the stage despite her inexperience. And caution? She may as well have burnt it to cinders already; she was an adventurer if he had ever seen one, fighting on faith and luck…

Yes, she was definitely worth fighting for, if there was someone fighting for her. Maybe, he thought ruefully as he wandered away after that first time, that was what Solidad saw in him. But no, Solidad did not go to every second contest he participated in, just to watch. And Solidad was kind, forthcoming. He was –

He didn't know what he was. In denial maybe? But May had him trapped in a vortex of blazing red fire, and the cautious side of him stuck to the core.


End file.
